biography / memoir
Captain Thunderbolt and His Lady
Carol Baxter
Carol Baxter is doing for Australian history
what our athletes are doing for sport: she’s
making it exciting, interesting and world class.
An Irresistible Temptation was her first book, about
a moment of scandal in the early days of the
colony, and her second, Breaking the Bank, dealt
with a bank robbery of epic proportions in early colonial times.
Now Baxter follows up with the most colourful moments of early
colonialism in her tale about the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt.
America has its wild west, yet Australia, just as wild and amoral, has
always been portrayed by writers as grey and insipid. But Baxter’s
vivid descriptions and exciting narrative are set to change all that.
Her Captain Thunderbolt – whom she defines as a magnificent
horseman, skilled bushman and colonial Robin Hood – seemed to
be a hero among the people, including his victims, even though he
was hunted and hated by the authorities.
But it is in her description of Thunderbolt’s ‘companion’ and
chief lieutenant, Mary Ann Bugg, that Baxter excels, giving us the
most intense understanding of life outside civil colonial society.
Bugg was Thunderbolt’s eyes and ears. Skilled, intelligent and
knowledgeable, she dressed and rode like a man to help him keep
ahead of the troopers. This beautifully told story may change the
way we see our history.
 Allen and Unwin $32.99
Reviewed by Alan Gold
Waiting for a Wide Horse Sky
Elaine Kennedy
Australian teacher Elaine Kennedy
travelled to Korea to work in a bizarrely
regimented, government-sponsored teaching
program. Along with antique temples and
exquisitely proportioned gardens, she discovers a
netherworld of abuse and neglect of third-world
guest workers. It is difficult to like the Korea depicted in Waiting
for a Wide Horse Sky, and the author’s own conscience troubles
the reader in turn. The parallels between her own bullied and overly
controlled existence as a foreign worker and the overt exploitation
of the Filipina women she encounters there are interestingly drawn,
and I was left deeply troubled by the globalised word of labour that
Kennedy describes.
This glimpse into the life of the English teacher abroad is
frequently fascinating, as is the rich life of tormented friendships and
intrigue that the author seemed to attract. The book also serves to
detract from some of the supposed glamour of the expatriate life.
The people who have chosen to start a new life in a country
where they don’t know the language, history or customs are
frequently difficult, escaping messy lives at home or being otherwise
unemployable. Even more complex are the relationships with
the Koreans themselves, as Kennedy attempts to navigate paths of
friendship in minefields of mutual incomprehension.
 Transit Lounge $29.95
Reviewed by Walter Mason
e
38_39_WOM_d.indd 39
5/10/11 9:51:15 PM